Julian Castro

Julian Castro (16 September 1974-) was Mayor of San Antonio, Texas from 1 June 2009 to 22 July 2014 (succeeding Phil Hardberger and preceding Ivy Taylor) and US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 28 July 2014 to 20 January 2017 (succeeding Shaun Donovan and preceding Ben Carson).

Biography
Julian Castro was born in San Antonio, Texas on 16 September 1974, the twin brother of congressman Joaquin Castro; his family came to Texas from Mexico in 1920. Castro graduated from Stanford in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in political science and communications, and he interned at the White House during Bill Clinton's presidency. He went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 2000, and they worked for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld before starting their own law firm in 2005. In 2001, Castro was elected to the San Antonio City Council, becoming its youngest councilman in history at the age of 26. He went on to serve as Mayor from 2009 to 2014, when he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Barack Obama. Castro worked to stabilize the housing market, rebuild communities struck by natural disasters, and expand lead safety protections in federally assisted housing. Initially a possible vice-presidential pick for the Democratic Party during the 2016 presidential election, he announced his candidacy for the 2020 presidential election on 12 January 2019, becoming the first Texan to enter the race.